The Poor Kid
The Poor Kid is the fourteenth and final episode of Season 15 of the American adult animated series Peanuts. It aired on November 16, 2011. Plot With their parents in jail, Charlie and Sally, along with Butters, Kenny McCormick and his brother and sister find themselves in the foster care system. Lucy is sincerely disturbed when Kenny is taken away as she soon realizes that she and Linus are the poorest kids in school in Kenny's absence. Full Plot Charlie and Sally's parents are arrested for unknowly stealing bread from a bakery, Butters' parents are also arrested for child abuse and Kenny's parents are arrested too for having a meth lab at their home, three events documented on the reality show (and one of the series' most recurring gags) White Trash In Trouble. As a result, Charlie, Sally, Butters, Kenny and his two siblings are placed with the Weatherheads, a militantly agnostic foster family living in Greeley that forbid their numerous foster children from expressing any notions of certainty. Their agnosticism manifests itself in a number of peculiar ways, such as their edict that the children can only drink "agnostic beverages" like Dr. Pep-er, because no one can be certain as to what flavor it is, and hypothesizing that God could be a "giant reptilian bird in charge of everything". Because of his younger sister Karen McCormick's sadness and fear over their new living situation, Kenny attempts to protect and comfort her by adopting his Mysterion persona, whom sees as her guardian angel. While searching for the "new poorest kid" with Linus, Lucy learns that they are now the poorest kids attending South Park Elementary. Lucy and (reclutantly) Linus complain to their parents, but they say that they are already working two jobs and cannot do more because of the economy. Wishing she and Linus were in a foster home like Charlie, Sally and Kenny, Lucy frames her parents for running a meth lab. Despite their protests of not having done drugs in a long time, they are arrested, which is again documented by White Trash in Trouble. Despite anticipating being sent to an idyllic setting like Hawaii, Lucy and Linus are placed with the Weatherheads, and attend the same school in Greeley as Charlie, Sally, Butters and Kenny, where Lucy is elated to discover that the poorest student there is not her, but a boy named Jacob Hallery, whom Lucy takes delight in ridiculing because she's not the poor kid in school. This causes her to be sent to detention for insulting him. A bully named Jessica Pinkerton, who was harassing Karen, gets beaten up by Mysterion. Karen and the other foster kids report what they saw to the Weatherheads, calling Mysterion an angel. Having expressed certain belief in the divine, Mr. Weatherhead waterboards them with Dr. Pepper. In response to the Weatherheads' cruelty, Charlie and Sally report them to Child Protective Services, while Kenny, as Mysterion, plants beer in their refrigerator, on which they get drunk, thus getting arrested for themselves being unfit guardians, as documented on White Trash In Trouble. Lucy is also arrested for filing a false police report, and her, Linus, Charlie, Sally, Butters and Kenny's caseworker, Mr. Adams, urges the police to return all the foster children to their parents, as the foster care system has been embarrassed. The kids return home, but on their first day back at South Park Elementary, a giant reptilian bird, rips open the school's roof and eats Kenny, prompting Lucy to burst into tears that she is the poorest kid in school once again, shorty after a drunken Snoopy insults her. Meanwhile, while Snoopy decides to live a life alone in his owners' house until Randy and Sharon being released from prison, he rescuers a sheep named Lanolin (from the comic strip U.S. Acres), who had a car accident, and takes her to the house. Upon finding and reading Lanolin's diary, Snoopy is infuriated about Lanolin had done to her friends and forces her to write a sorry message, holding her hostage. After sending Snoopy out for paper, Lanolin finds various weapons. A police officer shows up by chance, but his legs are blown off with a shotgun by Snoopy, and is killed so he won't have to be in a wheelchair. After several attempts, Lanolin finally writes her sorry message, but Snoopy refuses to let Lanolin go, knowing she could tell the police about the kidnapping. Lanolin's ultimate fate is left ambiguous as the subplot ends with a Magnum, P.I.-style credits roll. Cast * Guest stars *Tress MacNeille as Smurfette *Dan Castellaneta as Brainy Smurf *Harry Shearer as Hefty Smurf *Julie Payne as Lanolin Transcript Quotes *"Hey, I'm Charlie and Sally Brown's guardian! I'm the one in charge to take care of them while their parents...! (sees Kenny's parents being arrested) Wait. What the fuck? (begins filming with his phone) Oh, wow. Poor people being arrested. What a rare occurrence. You guys must be from White Trash in Trouble. I had seen this show yesterday. Oh. (waves with his left hand) Hi, Kenny! Kenny, wave! (to his phone) That's Kenny, about to be sent to a foster home like my owners. (he then sees Butters' parents being arrested) Wow, Butters's also! His parents seriously will to be in prison for a long time because of their abuses to him. You idiots" - Snoopy. *"Hi kids, how you doin'? My name's Mr. Adams and I just need to get some info from you. Does that sound okay?" - Mr. Adams. *"Okay?" - Sally. *"Can I see my mommy?" - Karen. *"No, sorry. Now, (opens a folder) I've been looking over your file and I see you kids have all been horribly physically and emotionally abused. (the kids look at him in astonishment) Oh whoops, that isn't your case file, it's the Penn State University Gazette. (laughs) I'm joking, that's just a joke, we like to have fun here. (closes the folder and shows it to the kids) It is your case file. I was just all like "it's the Penn State Gazette" to be like a joke, we have fun. Now listen, you're gonna be put into a foster home, so I need to know... would you like to go to Neverland Ranch, a Catholic church, or Penn State University? (laughs at his own joke) We're havin' fun here, aren't we? I just, I come up with these and the guys, it's good to laugh. (goes to the door and yells into the hall) I just asked them if they wanted to go to Neverland, a Catholic church, or Penn State. (closes the door and returns to his chair) I'm a trickster. People say I'm really meant for comedy. Here's my head shot just in case you know anybody. (shows his picture, then hands out copies to the kids) Can't hurt, right? Okay, now, are we all startin' to feel a little bit better? (Karen cries) Oh come on now, how about that smile? I'm gonna GET (holds out his right palm) you to smile! I'm gonna GET (holds out his right palm again) you to smile! (silence) A Penn State administrator walks into a bar. Where's that smile? How about this one? Joe Paterno doesn't walk into a police station. Come on, that's a good one" - Mr. Adams. *"Linus! Linus! I've been workin' on it, and I think I have some answers" - Lucy. *"Really?" - Linus. *"Yeah. I've gone through every student in the school, and I'm pretty sure now that Kenny's gone, the poor kid is Craig!" - Lucy. *"That's what you care about, Lucy?! Who's the poorest kid in school now?! Charlie and Sally are being sent away forever!" - Linus. *"Hey, Kenny's also sent to a foster home, you idiot!" - Lucy. *"Better off, let me search it for you. I don't believe Craig is the poorest kid" - Linus. *"You really think you got something?!" - Lucy. *"Yep. To find out who the poorest kid is, I actually was able to see which kids in school got those coupons they hand out for school lunch. So then I cross-referenced all the kids who were on half-priced lunches with the tax records of people in town to see which kids' parents actually made the least amount of money last year. Well actually, Lucy, it's us" - Linus. *"What!?" - Lucy. *"Now that Kenny's gone, our household actually has the lowest income" - Linus. *"Oh my God... If we found this out, it's only a matter of time before everybody else does" - Lucy. *"Uh, I won't tell anybody" - Linus. *"Oh come on! We're not the only ones who wanted to look into this! You think, you think Peppermint Patty isn't on the computer right now tryin' to see who the poorest kid in school is?! Oh, that fucking lesbian is gonna have such a field day. (then crosses her arms) Well I won't give her the satisfaction!" - Lucy. *"Alright, let's hear it for Peppermint Patty! (claps) She's so funny, isn't she guys?! With all her jokes about Lucy being poor. You guys hear how poor Lucy's parents are?! Her parents are so poor the ducks throw bread at them! Hahaha! Yeah, that's super funny, guys! (Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Patty, Violet, Babe and Wendy turn from their lockers to look at her) Laugh it up, everyone! (ends up by Peppermint Patty) Lucy's parents is so poor that when her father goes to KFC, he has to lick other people's fingers! HA! I beat you to it, you fucking lesbian!" - Lucy. *"What the fuck you're talking about?" - Peppermint Patty. *"Whateverl! Must be nice having everything you want!" - Lucy. *"(when her parents laugh at one of her jokes) IT'S NOT FUNNY!!" - Lucy. *"(crying) My parents are so poor my mom waves around a Popsicle and calls it air conditioning. I wish I could be put in a kewl foster home like Charlie, Sally and Kennyyy" - Lucy. *"(while drawing the scene where Lucy cries in her room; snickers) Ain't I an asshole?" - Bugs Bunny. *"What is going on here? Mom, Dad, what have you done? Were things so bad for you financially you had to turn to a life of crime?! My parents are so poor my dad uses Cheerios for earrings. Well... guess than Linus and I are off to a foster home then" - Lucy. *"What? What, is that supposed to be some kind of joke? You think you're funny?" - Mr. Adams. *"A joke?! You think being poor is a joke?!" - Lucy. *"Poor Papa Smurf. He died as once he lived" - Handy Smurf. *"This isn't a joke, is it?" - Jokey Smurf. *"Ashes to ashes, smurf to smurf" - Brainy Smurf. *"l'm glad you're dead, you bastard! l hope you smurf in hell for what you did to me in front of my friends! l hope you smurf in hell! (throws rock at Papa Smurf's grave)" - Smurfette. *"lt's OK, sweetie. Our long national nightmare is over. He can't hurt us anymore. The important thing is that you survived. We all survived (all get run over by a police car on the road)" - Hefty Smurf. *"This is a long drive. Are we in Hawaii yet?" - Lucy. *"Hawaii?" - Police Officer 6. *"Yeah, that's where I requested to be sent" - Lucy. *"Your foster home is here, pretty much the exact opposite of Hawaii" - Police Officer 7. *"What?? (looks out the window. A sign on the side of the road says "Welcome to Greeley, The Exact Opposite of Hawaii Please drive safely" A crow stands on top of the sign) Greeley?" - Lucy. *"(when she and Linus came to the Weatherhead house) What the? For fuck's sake, Linus. This is like poorer than our old house!" - Lucy. *"Lucy? Linus? What you're doing here?" - Sally. *"I guess Snoopy had done something to their parents" - Charlie. *"In reality, Lucy made a false police report to be in a foster home" - Linus. *"(Lucy!? Linus!? What the fuck are you doing here?!)" Kenny. *"Lanolin, I had found this diary in your bag, and I want to ask you if I could read it, then kill you if I hate it?" - Snoopy. *"I just finished your diary, you dirty bitch. How could you? HOW YOU CAN BE THAT WAY WITH YOUR FRIENDS!?" - Snoopy. *"Well, you will to stay here until you write a sorry note to your victims" - Snoopy. *"Look, Snoopy, first of all, you're insane. And second of all, Roy had dervesed the things I had done at him" - Lanolin. *"Shut up! Write or (takes out a shotgun and points at her) shoot!" - Snoopy. *"You've already been here awhile, guys, so you have to introduce me to your friends, okay? And make sure they know I'm kewl. You've gotta have my back, Kenny!" - Lucy. *"Oh hey, guys. Who's this?" - Greeley Boy 1. *"This is Lucy van Pelt" - Charlie. *"Does she live with you at the foster home?" - Greeley Boy 2. *"Hello, my name is Linus..." - Linus. *"Okay, alright, so listen: I know our family is poor, okay?! But before we lived there, Kenny was actually poorer than me! So technically, he's the poorest kid at this school!" - Lucy. *"What the fuck are you talking about? The poor kid in this school is Jacob Hallery" - Greeley Boy 1. *"Really?" - Lucy and Linus. *"Yeah, dude. His dad died five years ago and his mom went crazy from depression, so she can't even keep a job" - Greeley Boy 2. *"(jumping for joy) YES! Yeheah, did you hear that, guys?? We're good! I seriously thought we didn't stand a chance, but now... everything's gonna be okay! Cause I'm not (I'm not) the poor kid at school! (she runs up to Jacob) Let's hear it for Jacob Hallery, guys! His mom is so poor she cuts coupons out to be institutionalized! Greeley Colorado's the place to be! It's a whole new beginning for you and me! Life can only get better 'cause I know one simple ruuule! I'm not (she's not) the poor kid at school!" - Lucy. *"Did she do stuff like this at your old school?" - Boy 1. *"Yes" - Charlie, Sally, Linus, Butters and Kenny. *"Lucy, at Greeley Elementary we do not tolerate students making fun of other students" - Principal. *"I wasn't making fun of anybody" - Lucy. *"(reading from a report about the incident) A twenty-minute song and dance number with forty seven "Yo momma so poor" jokes directed at Jacob Hallery, which ended in a finale with fireworks and with a sponge and a fishstar annoying the teacher. Your case worker has been notified, and he is not happy!" - Principal. *"My case worker? (looks over her shoulder and sees Mr. Adams walk in) Oh, not this guy!" - Lucy. *"(beating up a bully) Karen McCormick is off limits! Same with everybody! Do you understand?! Make sure everybody in this school knows!" - Kenny/Mysterion. *"Ready. I've finished. Can I go now?" - Lanolin. *"Oh, no, Lanolin. I'm not stupid. If I let you go, you'll just run straight to the police and tell them I kidnapped you and held you hostage and fondled you while you were asleep" - Snoopy. *"(when he and Sally see Mr. Adams and Lucy arrived) Mr. Adams, we have something you have to see" - Charlie. *"(when he discovers the Weatherheads' abussive ways) What have I done? (sits in the doorway with his head in his hands) I took you kids from your parents without even checking into where you were going! I put innocent children into a dangerous environment! What am I, a recruitment coach for Penn State? (begins to cry. Lucy laughs) It's not funny!" - Mr. Adams. *(when the Weatherheads are arrested) No, no, take all these kids back to their parents! We've embarrassed the system and made it something nobody wants to be a part of! It's like a Penn State homecoming party (begins to cry)" - Mr. Adams. *"(while arresting Lucy for her false police report) A false police report can carry up to a two-month prison sentence, little girl. Now look at the camera and say I'm white trash and I'm in trouble!" - Greeley Police Officer 3. *"I'm not saying it" - Lucy. *"We can do this the easy way, or we can do it hard!" - Greeley Police Officer 3. *"I said you I'm not saying it!" - Lucy. *"Then we'll add another charge for resisting!" - Greeley Police Officer 3. *"Three arrests in just one power-packed episode, proving once again that criminals are all just one Pabst Blue Ribbon away from becoming... White Trash in Trouble!" - White Trash in Trouble Host. *"(singing) You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off you. You'd be like heaven to touch. Oh, god. I wanna hold you so much. At long last love has arrived. And I thank God I'm alive. You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off you. (hums to the music for a while, then continues singing) I love you baby. And if it's quite all right. I need you baby. To warm the lonely nights. I love you baby. You have to trust in me when I say. Oh pretty baby. Don't bring me down I pray. Oh pretty baby. Now that I've found you stay. I need to love you, baby. Let me love you. (long pause, sings last line) You're just too good to be true. (song ends, crowd cheers)" - Marcie. Production Development Theme Cultural references Animated cameos *The Smurfs get hit by a police car while they are attending a funeral for Papa Smurf. Brainy Smurf, Smurfette and Hefty Smurf all appear with dialogue. Papa Smurf's voice actor, Don Messick, actually died on October 24, 1997. * Reception Home release Trivia *Matt Stone and Trey Parker officially confirmed the name of Kenny's sister to be "Karen", after years of fans referring to her by that name. *Julie Payne reprises her role as Lanolin for this episode. *''The Smurfs'' characters are drawn with true depictions and character models as in the cartoon series itself, with permission from Warner Bros. and Studio Peyo. **Tress MacNeille, Dan Castellaneta and Harry Shearer played Smurfette, Brainy and Hefty for this episode. **The scene resulted in a mix between Peyo's art style and John Kricfalusi-esque expressions. ***Conditionally, John Kricfalusi is part of the series' creative crew and voices Snoopy as well. *Kenny, as Mysterion, shows his fighting ability, and was able to take out a larger girl with extreme ease, as well as kicking her in the head whilst jumping. *''White Trash In Trouble'' is a parody of the real-life reality TV shows such as America's Most Wanted and COPS. *Kenny reprises his alter ego, Mysterion, in this episode - however, unlike Mysterion's two previous appearances (The Coon and the three-part Coon and Friends story arc), the episode focuses on both "Kenny" and "Mysterion", rather than just one or the other. This is also the first time Mysterion appears alone without Lucy as The Coon. *This episode marks Kenny's first main role since the three-part Coon & Friends story arc from Season 14. This is also his only death in Season 15. *This is the second time Lucy has had her parents arrested; she has previously done so in The Wacky Molestation Adventure. *This is the 10th time Lucy has been in jail; she was previously jailed in Lucy's Silly Hate Crime, for physically assaulting Franklin; TBD; TBD; TBD; TBD; Die Hippie, Die, for kidnapping hippies and, later, shooting Kenny; Casa Bonita, for killing Kenny and kidnapping Butters (where she was also changed for arrest resisting by not saying "I'm white trash and I'm in trouble!"); Cartoon Wars, for stealing a ball from a dolphin pool and treating the Fox chairman with a gun; TBD; and Whale Whores, for her involvement in Whale Wars. This is also the third time Snoopy is not involved in getting her arrested after Lucy's Silly Hate Crime and Cartoon Wars. *There is a deleted scene where Marcie sings Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You at a public bar, only to be punished by Lucy, who says "This is in case of your life, if you and Peppermint Patty haven't discovered which I'm the poor girl now!", but was cut and replaced with Lucy telling jokes about poor she is, like if Peppermint Patty was telling them. The deleted scene can be shown in the bonus features of The Complete Fifteenth Season DVD boxset. Category:Peanuts (1997 TV adult show) Category:Peanuts (1997 TV adult show) episodes Category:Episodes Category:Alternate Reality